This law allows specialized hospital pharmacies to prepare medications for patients when these hospitals are under the same ownership and within 75 miles of each other. They can repack and barcode large amounts of medication into smaller, single-dose packages specifically for use within these hospitals. The definition of "common ownership" means that the ownership details for these pharmacies must match with those filed with the relevant board.

This law explains that centralized hospital packaging pharmacies in California need a special license from the board in addition to their regular pharmacy license. To get this specialty license, they must apply using specific board-provided forms and pass an inspection to ensure they follow all rules. This license is only available to hospital pharmacies and has to be renewed every year, requiring another inspection. The license is also not transferrable to another pharmacy. These rules will kick in starting January 1, 2025.

This law allows a centralized hospital pharmacy to prepare and store a limited amount of unit dose medications before receiving specific prescriptions. The goal is to ensure the hospital can continuously provide care to its patients, based on past prescription patterns for these patients.

This law requires any single-use medication made by a hospital's central pharmacy to have a barcode that healthcare staff can scan at a patient's bedside. This ensures they give the right medication to the right patient in the right amount and way. The software used for scanning, called barcode medication administration software, helps prevent medication errors by checking the information against the patient's electronic medical record.

This law requires that labels for unit dose medications made by a centralized hospital packaging pharmacy include specific details. These details must include the preparation date, expiration date, name and quantity of the drug, storage needs, the lot or control number, and the pharmacy's name. Additionally, pharmacists should be able to use the lot or control number for tracking purposes to find information about the drug's ingredients, their expiration dates, and the National Drug Code number.

This law states that all tasks related to compounding and packaging medications must only be done in a hospital pharmacy that has the proper license. The pharmacy must follow all relevant federal and state laws and rules, especially those for making compounded or sterile medications when necessary.

This law says that a centralized hospital packaging pharmacy and its pharmacists must ensure that any single-dose medication they prepare is safe, effective, of high quality, and accurately labeled.